The Importance Of Pop Culture In A Child's Imagination
from the stop-the-moral-panics dept
There's a long tradition of many parents whining about whatever pop cultural element is enticing their children -- mainly just because it's different than the type of cultural elements they had when they were kids. In some cases, it even reaches the point of a moral panic. However, reader ChurchHatesTucker writes in to point to news concerning some research done into fandom around the Harry Potter series, which basically found that children need pop culture in their lives, as a way of building up their imaginations, and creating the framework for their own storytelling activities. It doesn't seem to matter much the quality of the content -- just that it gives the kids something to work with in order to craft their own imaginative worlds.
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Filed Under: children, harry potter, pop culture
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pop culture videos
http://popculturevideos.com
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Re: pop culture videos
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RE: post #1
Run Dick run.
Spot runs faster than Dick.
Spot runs faster than Jane.
Run Spot run.
Oppps, I should have given the beginning reader a Jules Verne book instead. Now I've done it.
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Re: RE: post #1
The meanings of words changes over time. As do phrases or even just references. It would not surprise me if in 100 years time, Harry Potter isn't a "children's book" just like the Illiad isn't a bedtime story (though if you have a great storyteller, that's another story).
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Trust me, you do NOT want you kids on most Fanfic!
This is just one example of the demented people who write there. Nothing in the real world compares with this; I'd rather show my the reality of war then have them read this!
Given that, there is a heck of a lot of fanfiction much better then what I've read in books; and lot of better books then JKR wrote.
Note also that 2/3 of the stories have slash in them, so really...
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Re: Trust me, you do NOT want you kids on most Fanfic!
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Re: Annony
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It saddens me, when I pass the neighborhood game seller's store, to note that there always is a bunch of kids ranging from grade school to high school - and older - waiting to buy noisy, violent games, while the library down the block is totally empty. My sadness is both for our society and for them.
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Re:
I learned so much from video games and "pop culture". My bet is that if you find 11 kids with similar levels of parental involvement, the kids will learn and grow from whatever entertainment they have.
Certainly, nearly all kids who fail grow up on pop culture (due to lax parenting). That doesn't make the culture bad, it just makes it easy.
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Re:
I can tell you, as someone who qualified for reduced lunches in public school, that pop culture, video games, and television are a tremendous asset to imagination, creativity, and yes, success in life. I grew up on Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica. When the Atari 2600 came out, I saved 6 months of paper route money to buy one. It inspired me to create video games myself, and gave me an interest in computers. Then, when I started playing D&D, the standardized system in the game made me think about to categorize things in real life, and how to abstract them. It formed the basis of my ability to analyze problems as a Software Developer, which is what I do for a living today, and make a very good living at it.
Your low opinion of pop culture does not make you wise, it makes you a narrow minded ass. Pop culture allowed me to climb to heights I otherwise would not have attained, and you are a moron for spitting on it.
As for imagination, which was the basis of this post, I have always been an avid writer, and I enjoy drawing, painting, and sculpting. Many of these things I create are directly influenced by the pop culture you so detest.
You obviously are completely ignorant of what pop culture is all about, but you feel perfectly vindicated in trashing it. I would say that, by eliminating pop culture from their lives, you stifled your children's creativity and limited their potential.
You disgust me.
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Re: joe's success
actively developing an imagination of one's own (and it's benefits)
or
passively being delivered someone else's imagination
my two daughters are very aware of the surrounding pop culture, and i don't absolutely discourage it at home. it provides a common language within their peer group. i wish it didn't, but i can't change that.
i do my best to lead them and teach them to develop themselves themselves, not through something as passive as a tv.
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Re:
Skinner, meet box.
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Pop Culture
While I continue to maintain that children (and many adults) ARE influenced by the media and the culture surrounding them (for example, ScienceDaily showed that if you are surrounded by obese people, obese seems "normal"), it is equally true that these things are not necessarily bad.
"Protecting the Children" all too often means leaving them defenseless against the real world. NO violence can be as damaging as too much violence. I could go on and on, but I would rather just agree with what has already been said!
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rgggggggggggg
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